MoBay to get new flights from Europe
TOURISM MINISTER Edmund Bartlett said that commencing this October, several new flights will be making their landing at the Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay, St James, directly out of Eastern Europe.
“We are expecting to have the commencement of a number of flights out of Eastern Europe, notable of which will be Pegas Fly, which will come straight out of Moscow into Montego Bay on October 24,” Bartlett told The Gleaner yesterday.
“After we leave the Canadian market, we will be going to the European market. We have the Jamaican travel market in London on September 27, which will then take us to France and the other areas of Europe.”
RUSSIAN TOURISTS
Bartlett also stated that after the flight from Moscow on October 24, Jamaicans can expect to see an increased presence of Russian tourists coming into the island. He said that this trend should continue into the summer of 2019.
“This is the period for the markets. We do our road shows from September to December to enable not just the strengthening of the winter market arrangements, but also to begin to build for the summer as this business of tourism is an all-aroundyear activity,” noted Bartlett.
“We are also expecting Latam Airlines to commence early next year, and that will be a huge connection for us out of Lima (Peru), which is a major gateway in South America. When we add that to the 11 flights a week that we now have with Copa, we will be the most connected destination out of South America in the western Caribbean.”
Bartlett went on to state that the Canadian airline Westjet is to commence non-stop flights between the cities of Calgary and Montego Bay starting November 3, while Canada’s newest low-cost carrier, Swoop, a subsidiary of Westjet, will commence twice-weekly non-stop flights between the city of Hamilton in Ontario and Montego Bay, starting December 16.
Added to that, leisure airline Sunwing, which will commence onceweekly non-stop flights between the city of Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, and Montego Bay, starting in December and ending in April next year, travel business to Jamaica will be at an all-time high. THE KNOCKALVA Agricultural School is now a polytechnic college, providing greater access to tertiary education for persons in western Jamaica.
Minister of Education, Youth and Information Ruel Reid noted that the rebranded institution, located in Hanover, will bring tertiary studies to the doorsteps of residents of the parish in addition to St James and Westmoreland.
“We cannot have all our colleges and universities in Kingston and St Andrew. We don’t have enough space, and more so, education and training systems are changing so rapidly that even in your living room, you can access certain programmes. So we have to bring education and training as close to our people as possible,” said Reid.
He was speaking at a ceremony to officially launch the 2018-2019 school year and mark the new Knockalva Polytechnic College on Thursday on the grounds of the institution in Ramble.
MOU SIGNING
The ceremony included the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Knockalva and several institutions – Caribbean Maritime University; the College of Agriculture, Science and Education; the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts; The Mico University College; and the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport – for the provision of tertiary qualifications.
Earlier this year, the education minister said that the institution “fits very neatly in our K (kindergarten) to 18 strategy”.
“It is now viewed as a post-secondary [institution], and it needs to be reclassified and upgraded to become a full polytechnic as we have done with the Trench Town Polytechnic. That will attract tertiary-level programmes so that the students can achieve better certification and be better aligned to industry,” he further pointed out.
The official launch of the school year was held under the theme ‘Ramp It Up or Fix it Up; K to 13 ... An Inclusive Education System’.
Reid lauded the collaboration between the ministries of transport and mining and labour and social security to implement the rural bus system in 12 parishes.
The bus system is intended to provide affordable transportation for students and improve school attendance in rural areas.